Barbed wire



0 United States Patent 1 3,550,911

[72] inventor il iam B 301.086 7/1884 Briggs 256/7 Shelfield, England 31 1.426 1/1885 Ford 256/7 [21] Appl. No. 777,341 2,959,399 11/1960 Dupont 256/7 [22] Filed Nov. 20, 1968 466.775 l/ 1892 Deines 256/7 [45] Patented Dec.29, 1970 51 1,458 12/1893 Riter 256/35 73] Assignee Tinsley Wire Industries Limited 353,938 5/1907 s i h 256/7 [32] Priority Jan. 5, 1968 943,413 12/1909 Hoxie 256/7 [3 3 g g izg Primary Examiner-Dennis L Taylor [3 I l At!orneyWatson, Cole, Grindle & Watson [54] BARIJJ'ED WIRE. ABSTRACT: Barbed wire consists of a single line wire of non- I Clam" 4 Drawing circular cross section, conveniently a continuously flattened [52] U.S.Cl 256/7 ir ular section wire, also crimped continuously along its [51] lnt.Cl E04h 17/04 length, the crimping preferably being all in the same plane [50] F ld Th 56/ parallel to the flattened sides of the line wire with an am- 2-6, 8 plitude preferably less than the breadth of the line wire in the same plane, and barbs consisting of pointed lengths of wire References Cited coiled tightly round the crimped line wire at intervals, the UNITED STATES PATENTS coiled length of the barbs preferably being substantially equal 209.467 10/ l 878 Daley 256/7 to at least half the pitch of the crimping of the line wire.

BARBED WIRE This invention relates to barbed wire, more particularly of the type in which a single line wire is used instead of the more usual two wires twisted together.

The object of the invention is'to provide barbed wire consisting of a single line wire and barbs consisting of pointed lengths of wire coiled around it, the line wire being such that precise positioning or spacing of the barbs is not required to ensure that they cannot rotate or slide on the line wire, and also that when tensioned during fence erection the line wire is not very likely to snap.

According to the present invention, barbed wire consists of a single line wire of noncircula'r cross section having major and minor dimensions generally perpendicular to each other and having continuously along its length in the plane of its major dimension short-pitched crimps of amplitude substantially less than that dimension, and barbs consisting of pointed lengths of wire coiled tightly around said line wire at intervals embracing a plurality of crimps, wherein said line wire is of uniform cross section and smooth exterior throughout its length, and each barb is close-coiled and occupies substantially one whole pitch length of the crimping of said line wire.

The crimping of the line wire in the plane of its major dimension proves convenient both for effecting the crimping by passing the line wire between a pair of ridged rollers'and for feeding the crimped line wire into the barb-coiling apparatus.

The line wire in no way resembles a spring-and yet has such appreciable elasticity because of the crimping that it is not very likely to snap when tensioned during fence erection. Because each barb is close-coiled over substantially one whole pitch length of the crimping of the' line wire, an appreciable bend in the line wire occurs within the axial length of each barb, to ensure that no sliding of the barbs can take place.

The line wire is preferably provided with its uniform noncircular cross section by flattening continuously a wire of circu- One embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are elevations of a short length of barbed wire taken at right-angles to each other;

F IG. 3 is a section taken from the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlargement of the section of wire seen in FIG. 3.

The barbed wire has a continuously flattened line wire 1 continuously crimped in one plane parallel to the sides 2 of the flattened cross section, the amplitude of the crimping being less than the breadth of the line wire in the same plane, and the coiled length of barbs 3 formed by coiling pairs of pointed lengths of wire 4 tightly round the line wire at intervals being substantially equal to the pitch of the crimping.

Because of the continuous crimping and flattening of the line wire 1, precise positioning and spacing of the barbs 3 is not critical, which leads to ease of manufacture, but rotation or sliding of the barbs on the line wire is effectively prevented. Without in any way resembling a spring, the crimped line wire has greater elasticity than a straight line wire of any comparable section, so that it is not very likely to snap when tensioned during fence erection.

Iclaim:

. l. Barbed wire consisting of a single [line wire of noncircular cross section throughout its entire length having major and minor dimensions generally perpendicular to each other and having continuously along its length in the plane of its major dimension short-pitched crimps of an amplitude substantially less than said major dimension, and barbs consisting of pointed lengths of wire coiled tightly around said line wire at intervals embracing a plurality of crimps, wherein said line wire is of uniform cross section and of smooth exterior throughout its length, and each barb is close-coiled and occupies substantially one whole pitch length of the crimping of said line wire whereby any movement of said barbs along the length of said wire and any rotation of said barbs on said wire is substantially avoided by reason of each of said barbs being coiled tightly around the one whole pitch length of said wire crimping. 

